Arrival - Five Reasons You’ll Love It

We’re used to watching aliens touch down on earth these days. Most of them want to hurt us or suck up our resources, they seldom want to talk to us; normally that gets in the way of shooting at each other.

Arrival, the new movie from Sicario and future Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve, is a very different kind of alien invasion story. It begins with multiple mysterious extraterrestrial spacecraft touching down in various places across the globe.

To try and find out why the crafts have come to earth, an elite team is put together to investigate, including linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams), mathematician Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), and US Army Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker).

All the countries with crafts and those without furiously search for answers and initially communication between the nations is plentiful, but as the search goes on and tensions escalate, things threaten to boil over into a situation that threatens all of humanity.

It DVD shelves on Monday (March 20th) and is available to pre-order on the right-hand side of the page, but we caught an early screening and have rounded up five reasons you’ll love this very special sci-fi drama...

It looks incredible…

Villeneuve brings this story to life with incredible flourish and scale. Every exterior shot gives you the sense of wonder that all the best films about the cosmos share. It’s incredible.

Especially the spacecrafts…

The crafts don’t resemble any we’ve seen on film before, they are long structures, not threatening or warlike, cold and faceless instead. Watching Banks and Donnelly take their first steps into the craft is a tension-fuelled treat.

Amy Adams leads the movie superbly…

Adams’ portrayal of Banks is understated, but very powerful. She steers the movie and keeps it grounded as it twists and turns through encounters with new extra-terrestrial beings...

The supporting cast also excel...

Renner plays the stoic, wisecracking scientist, while Whittaker is a no-nonsense military commander. They both play second fiddle to Adams, but their performances add much to movie’s weight and depth.

This movie will make you so excited for Blade Runner 2049…

There’s been talk of a Blade Runner sequel for a long time and there's always a huge amount of trepidation from fans and filmmakers alike about doing justice to such an iconic movie. The nerves were amped right up when it was announced that original director Ridley Scott was stepping back from the project and handing the directorial reins to Villeneuve, but this movie should calm everybody down. If the director takes his incredible ambition and visual flair into Blade Runner 2049 then we’re all in for a treat.